Ubuntu Wiki

We wil handle communities with care and respect: Naturally formed communities of products/services users and supporters are a valuable but fragile asset. They represent the very core of the Ubuntu values. They must be handled with care.

We will learn from succesful communities, not attempt to change them: These communities succeeded to create a fruitful working environment, to which it's members are attached to. They have managed to recruit and retain members. These environments must be preserved and these comunities must be empowered to multiply such working formulas. We must learn from them, not attempt to change them.

We won't change communities' processes: They have created their own set of processes (leadership, management, hierarchy, conflict resolution, communication, etc) and succeeded to promote users engagement to them. Even though our goal is to bring such comunities to a unified QA structure, each community must be able to keep such processes untouched.

We will treat communities diversity as an asset: Although it is easy to envision a unified and uniform structure as likely the best in terms of efficiency and ease of management, this is not true in the FOSS universe. Unlike the private sector, in which workers are paid to deliver results under any structure or circumstances, in FOSS we deal with opinionated contributors, their ideas, ideals, preferences and particular visions. Communities are formed around such values. Any attempt to merge different communities, in which such values may differ even slightly, risks igniting conflict, division and losing contributors. The main reason of failure and forks in the FOSS universe has always been the imposition of changes in processes and new values. Allowing and embracing diverse sub-teams creates a safer environment in which a team will continue to exist, in the long-term, even if one (or a few) of it's sub-teams fail or end operations. This wouldn't happen in a unified structure with no sub-teams. Such a strategy also promotes creativity and innovation, which are absolutely mandatory to keep Ubuntu ahead of competing Operating Systems.

We will maintain and enforce complete transparency: All procedures will be clearly communicated and documented. Adopting transparency as a guiding rule allows and reinforces democracy and meritocracy.

We will provide recognition and positive reinforcement: Every team and/or member counts, as well as their achievements. Adopting mechanisms to properly provide positive feedback to community members and teams for their deeds creates engagement, increases commitment and inspires new and current members towards great performance.

We will be driven by long-term goals: It is easy to disregard the previous rules and a long-term vision when dealing with short-term urgencies and immediate needs. Short-term tactics that do so may sow the seeds to shorter life-cycle and endurance.